WFSA Transit Task Force Takes On Sport Firearm Travel Problems

Published: March - 2010

Problems faced by sport shooters traveling with the firearms prompted Hunting Report Editor Barbara Crown last year to join the Transit Task Force on sport firearms created by the World Forum on the Future of Shooting Activities (WFSA). Travel with firearms is fast becoming one of the greatest challenges travelling sportsmen face today. This task force, chaired by John J. Jackson, III, of Conservation Force, is made up of representatives from the hunting and shooting community from all over the world. The group is organizing an international workshop to address problems with the transport of sport firearms and ammunition as baggage. Its goal is to identify and examine problems, recommend model airline and security procedures for transport, propose solutions that can be adopted by airlines and security agencies around the world and encourage States to adopt simplified procedures for sport shooters while remaining in line with international agreements.

This is a tall order, but it is a task that must be taken up for the future of our sport and the conservation programs that hunters support around the world. Crown spoke about this very issue at a symposium on the benefits of hunting held in Namibia last September and sponsored by the WFSA. You can read her entire speech on The Hunting Report web site under Email Extra Bulletins in the left-hand column. (Scroll to the bottom and click on View All E-mail Extra Bulletins, then look for the September 18 bulletin, Hunting Report Editor Speaks At International Hunting Symposium.)

In case you don't know, the WFSA is an official UN non-governmental organization (NGO) with 40 member associations that speak for over 100 million hunters, sport shooters and competition shooters. You can learn more about the organization on its web site. The Transit Task Force is currently seeking organizations that would like to participate in or support the workshop.